Dae Sung Oak

This review is only for sul lung tang/​seollongtang/​sullungtang. My family has been going here since I can remember — the price for a bowl is great ($ 7.99), the meat in the soup is quality and the taste is so clean! This is the best sullungtang in the city.
I like to order mine with the yang ji or beef brisket. They also offer it with gop chang or intestines and a mix of the two. I don’t like the chewiness of innards or the thought of eating them, so I stick with the thinly-​sliced brisket. It’s tender and delicious.
The order comes with rice and side dishes, including a small salad with peanut-​based dressing. If you’ve never had this type of soup before, you need to know a few things:
1) They do not flavor the broth beforehand. It has no salt so it’s up to you to use the salt cellar provided on the table to flavor it to your liking. My recommendation is about 1.5 heaping spoonfuls, but go slow. Add and taste until you’ve hit the magic combination.
2) The restaurant has a covered bowl of sliced green onions. While your broth will come with some already inside, I’m a big fan of the fresh taste it gives the soup. Add as much as you like.
3) There will also be a covered jar. If you open it, you’ll find a reddish paste. This is made up of red chili powder and something else =). It’s pretty spicy and you drop a bit into your soup and mix it in to give it a nice kick. You do not have to do this (in fact, I like to keep mine pure).
3a) A lot of Koreans will actually use their kimchi to achieve the same effect by putting the kimchi into the soup.
4) Experiment with the rice. Some people like to put all of the rice in and use their spoons, others keep them separate. I like doing a little bit of both.
Don’t feel shy about asking for more of the side dishes. Some of the waitresses can be a little cold but faint heart never won tasty things. At the end of your meal, you will be served a little bowl of shikhae, or rice punch. It’s not the best I’ve had but it’s a nice way to end a great meal.
P. S. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT order the naeng myun. The Daddy is a naeng myun fiend and he has sworn never to order it again. The taste is all wrong, the noodles are undercooked and it’s not a good example of good buckwheat noodle soup.

I remember coming here years back and loving their Korean BBQ.
This review is only for their galbi tang:
They give generous portions and it’s pretty refreshing on a hot day… so weird how hot broth tastes so good on a scorching hot day.
However, I’m biased and my heart is still with Park’s BBQ’s galbitang. I wish they would give the sauce to dip the meat in at Dae Sung Oak too.
What I liked most was that even on a busy Friday night, if we pressed the server button, the server came very quickly and was attentive to our large party so that was a huge plus!
Valet is $ 2 for a very, very small lot (10 spots stacked parking) and really hard to find street parking, but it was good service overall. I would come back to try the Korean BBQ again!

I’ve been here several times (upstairs) and each time we’ve gotten the bulgogi jeon-gol…and it’s been delish! My bf, my family, and I come here just to order that! Their bbq isn’t bad either. As for their ban-​chan, pretty decent. I really like their daen-jang-jjigae…but service here is pretty bad. It’s the kind of service where you know the ajumahs’ heard you, but unless you scream, they won’t acknowledge you. Oh well, at least their jeon-​gol is good.

QUALITY MEAT, GREAT PRICE, LARGE GROUPS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME…
BY FAR ONE OF THE BEST «QUALITY MEAT» BBQ In K-​TOWN!
WHEN YOU COME IN, ASK FOR JASON LEE. HE’S THIS 6 FOOT 3 MUSCULAR GUY THAT LOOKS LIKE A KOREAN SUPER MODEL!!!
So check it out!
great food, great time, great price, great looking guy!
what else do you want?

3.5 stars for now.
Been here a couple of times for lunch. Went for their galbi tang (beef short ribs soup) special for $ 4.99. Very cheap for what it is. Not too shabby of a portion, quality is good, and tasty.
Their bhan chan (side dishes) is really good. Like their kimchi, gak doo gi (radish kimchi), and other sides.
Service is decent.
Would like to try their bbq upstairs.
Down side: valet parking for lunch? I don’t get it, guess it’s a K-​town thing; we usually street park.

Ok so I’m really big on Korean places that are nice to white people… and this place has always been somewhere I can take my white friends and not have to apologize or explain the way Koreans are.
Food is great… Kalbi not too sweet, love the ban chan… The spicy crab especially! Another fave is the the steamed eggs and the denjang chigae.
The BBQ is upstairs… downstairs is for kitchen food only.

I thought I reviewed this place already… this is one of my favorite comfort food restaurants.
I always get the same thing from here:
Kalbi Tang: some people call it bone marrow soup but it’s not bone marrow people. It’s short ribs soup with clear noodle and broth. Yummy to eat during winter time/​when you are sick/​when it’s raining.
Bulgogi: when I am too lazy to cook it at the table I order this.
Broiled Corvina: I can eat the whole fish. Seriously super good. Salty enough but not hypertension salty, crispy on the outside and juicy meat inside.
4 stars.
Dae Sung Oak is yummylicious!

This was a decent K-​town go to.
I am only a Hapa but I like finding new Korean food places. This one had a little soup, little noodles –they have BBQ available upstairs — but it is not a must.
The moule nang myen + Kalbi combo for $ 15 is more than enough for 2, supplemented with rice, lettuce, broth and side dishes. Panchan was mostly fermented hot pickled things but it is cool you can get that with anything.
The food was average to above average but it feels like home style.
Prices were good — each of us ate WAY more than we needed for ~ $ 12 including tax and tip.
Atmosphere was ok. A little fancier upstairs, with frequent smoke overload.

I am not sure I need AYCE anymore!
Another great place shown to me by Maggie C. The Kalbi Tang and Bulgogi are just fantastic. I am not sure about anything else they serve. I am also left with a few questions.
~Questions???
1.Why do all these K places charge for valet parking? Whatevers. I
don’t want no grubby nose picking genital scratching dirty hands on
my steering wheel. No thanks. I park my car myself and pay 2
bucks.
2. Why do those parking guys carry around that parking light stick like
it’s a weapon? Like they have magical power. They act like it’s a star
wars sword.whatevers.
3. What is up with the mirrors on both sides of the door leading into
the bathroom. Scary and Creepy.
4. Why does the service suck?
All in all. I would totally come back here. I am a fan.
Yummylicious to say the least.

I went to Dae Sung Oak on a recommendation of a friend and now I plan on bringing back MORE friends. Plus, you can’t beat the ½ off prices at lunch.
I’ve had K-​BBQ many times, but what made this different was the method of cooking. The meat goes on the fire in a ring that looks more like a cooking pan. In that pan is a delicious broth. The meat and veggies cook and produce an amazing, flavorful dipping sauce. Check out my pictures of this restaurant.
On the menu it’s NUMBER 10 and according to the son’s owner it’s one of their specialties.
It’s open early and closes late.

If only i could count the number of times i’ve eaten here (always upstairs bbq) with a group of friends and left rambunctiously drunk from the Hite beer and soju, while the inevitable meat coma sets in.
Come hungry with your most adventurus friends. This place is ideally done family style with one of the combos and is great for a group of four or a larger party.
if the servers overwhelm you by grilling too much meat at once, dont be afraid to speak up and go at your own pace.

MJ’s Star: 3.5
Price: Korean BBQ set for party of 3~4. $ 64.99 (excluding tip & tax)
* Korean BBQ set
Sliced Brisket Point + Sliced Pork Belly + Seasoned Boneless Ribs + BBQ Tenderloin + BBQ Sirloin BoSam + Mushroom + Bean Tofu Stew + Egg Steam + Soju

I sashay’ed in here and strutted up the stairs only to hobble back down feeling stuffed with more meat than found on Kim Kardashian’s arse.
You stay downstairs for regular Korean food. Otherwise, you go upstairs for Korean BBQ. It’s not an all-​you-​can-​eat joint, but it sure felt like a 90-​minute perpetual meat-​fest with consecutive, satisfying food-​gasms.
BBQ meat combos start at $ 44.99 and can go in the $ 100’s. We decided on combo number #2 for $ 54.99, which easily feeds a hungry party of three. Our combo came with different types of beef, pork, and slices of meaty, king oyster mushroom. Also included was a choice of alcohol (beer or soju).
There were at least 12 different dishes of banchan… including spicy raw crab, fish, pickled squid, and a piping hot stone pot egg.
The beef is pretty dang tasty here. Tender and fresh… not fatty nor chewy. The pork, however, was fatty. I am not a big pork eater so I hardly touched it. But it did smell good.
Service was super awesome. Our dorky waiter was soOooo attentive. He was rarely 10 feet away from our table. He kept our grill covered with meat at all times… flipping and turning them, when necessary. Boy, he sure knew how to work those metal tongs even with smoke-​fogged eyeglasses.
Korean BBQ should definitely be an occasional indulgence. Otherwise, I just might turn into Kim Chee… Kardashian. (Ok, that was cheesy).

Go upstairs for grilling or downstairs for other dishes. My grandma loves the nengmyun here and she’s a connoisseur. My parents like to do the combo that’s $ 60 for three people and a bottle of soju to unwind after a stressful day. Split three ways, it’s more than enough food.
Parking isn’t great but that’s Koreatown!

Nengmyun (buckwheat noodles) was delicious. I will definitely be back for that.
Atmosphere: Definitely lower-​end and basically a large room with tables and chairs. You feel as if you are «part of the masses» rather than other restaurants with compartmentalized seating. You can easily hear other conversations so unless you’re a loner or a weirdo, the compactness of the restaurant is really obtrusive.
Food: Delicious nengmyun. I got mine with the spicy sauce but had them make it «not as spicy.» All their side dishes were incredibly spicy (overkill) so I thought their main course dishes would be the same. The noodles were perfect in terms of spicyness with very generous portions. The marinated kalbi was delicious as well.
Service: It wasn’t even busy but service was spotty at best (surprise, surprise). My food came out 10+ minutes after my grandmother’s dish.
Price: My nengmyun and kalbi combo was $ 15. My grandmothers spicy fish soup was ~$ 12 although we both didn’t like it (they put frozen fish in hot boiling water, making the fish gross even though it was fully cooked).

Been there over 7 times last year & still rating it 5 stars.
If its good food, don’t expect much service haha Basically, don’t expect much service. But they do try to lay the meat for you and of course always take over on the shabu shabu… so there still is the minimum service.
Food is still yummy. Place is still packed at night.

I haven’t been there in a while, but I used to go regularly with my Grandfather before he passed away. We would go to his doctor appointments and eat lunch there. I love their Sur Lung Tang. They have two sections to their restaurant… downstairs has more low key Korean dishes while the 2^nd floor has meat, alcohol and other stuff.
The parking can be tricky at times depending on where you go, but I am definitely a fan. maybe because I have good memories…

Stumbled upon Dae Sung Oak by mistake. And thank God for that stumble!
This place is great! The food is amazing, the service is friendly, the place is clean and decent and prices are reasonable. This is the best kind of restaurant!
I love the small appetizers when I eat korean food. The sweet potato at Dae Sung Oak was so good. I REALLY wanted to get a plate of that by itself. We ordered the bbq mackeral ($ 10.99) and the bbq beef ($ 15.99). I was kind of glad that we didn’t have to do the cooking ourselves — I was wearing a sweater and I REALLY didn’t want to smell like grilled meat for the rest of the day (I would love the smell but I’m not sure the people around me would). The beef was great. Very well seasoned and tender. But I was more of a fan of the mackeral (yes — I know, I was surprised that I liked the fish more than the beef! But the beef was still absolutely great!). The mackeral was so crispy and crunchy on the outside but still soft and succulent on the inside. The flesh was easily tearable and everything tastes amazing.
The staff were helpful and friendly. The two ah-​ju-​mahs were so cute! I’ll definitely be going back!
Everything added together, for two people, we walked out pretty filled up on around $ 35. That’s pretty good!

I’ve taken my regular Korean food lover friends to this place and no one has ever disagreed on the texture, flavor, and the tender quality of the bull gogi. The first floor is well suited for people who don’t want to cook their meat. The bull gogi place is awesome here. I also used to frequent this spot because it was the only place in Los Angeles that sold TARO GUK PAB. I’ve found a few other places since, but yeah TTARO GUK PAB is baiscally MEAT SOUP. The base is made of beef broth, and it’s kind of spicey but not as spicey as yuk kae jang. Taro guk pab is like the down home nitty gritty food that Korean grandma’s used to make. Authentic it is. This is their specialty, along with their Naengmyun. Try the BULL GOGI Plate. It’s fantastic.
edit: I Had their bibim naeng myun it was NASTY!!!

Though I’m sure it’s hard for a restaurant to stand out in Koreatown, it’s rare that I’ve been disappointed in the food when I’ve dined there.
I was a little disappointed here.
First: Dae Sung Oak is kind of two restaurants in one. The ground floor is mostly for patrons wishing to eat noodles or soups or dishes of that nature. The much bigger upstairs has the grills for BBQ. The upstairs looks fantastic, the décor wonderful, and if you get a seat along the outer wall, you can enjoy a view of the street below. There are also transom-​style windows for venting smoke from the grills (in addition to the vents above the tables) which gives the place an open, airy feel.
The food, though, didn’t wow me. I don’t know what it was. None of the banchan, though plentiful and varied, really left an impression. The chicken bulgogi was just pretty good. And the seafood platter my group ordered, though impressive visually, was also a let down. Much of it was overcooked and the dipping sauce provided to go with it was a horrible mismatch.
The highlight of the meal ended up being the juk they made at the end. To the drippings from the seafood platter, they added kimchi and rice and let that reduce down to a porridge consistency. Great stuff, a nostalgia food for Koreans. I got the feeling they don’t always do this, and you might have to request it.
I suspect that Dae Sung Oak is one of those places whose strength is its beef or pork BBQ. At least I hope so because though everyone we ordered was OK, nothing really made me want to hurry back.